Finance for Non Finance Managers Course

Decisions employees make daily in business often have a notable impact on the organisation's financial standing. However, many people do not understand the importance of assessing how their decisions impact the organisation's bottom-line. Not being able to interpret financial statements fuels this lack of understanding.

This four-day programme is for those who want to improve their understanding of the financial ramifications of their decisions – whether these relate to an impact on the income statement, balance sheet or cash-flow statement. Through a mixture of classroom lectures, practical exercises and interpretation of financial statements, this course will help delegates to ‘lift the veil’ surrounding financial data.

At the end of this programme, Attendees should be able to:

• Plan more effectively as to take the financial impact of your decisions into consideration;
• Identify what causes and drives costs;
• Gain insight into working capital management;
• Apply key ratios and performance measures;
• Understand growth, cash-flow and profitability considerations;
• Implement the concept of contribution and marginal costing;
• Calculate discounted cash-flow and capital costs; and
• Comprehend the principles of valuation and value creation from an economic perspective. ​​

Course Contents

Day One

Primary financial statements

• A first look at the language of accounting
• Understanding how commercial events are captured within financial statements (case study)

Balance sheet

• Balance Sheet Overview
• Balance Sheet Terms
• Assets and Liabilities
• Fixed vs Current Assets
• Liabilities and Equity

Income statement

• Revenue manipulation
• Cost of sales and gross profit margins
• Understanding the cost base (fixed vs. variable; direct vs. indirect)
• Operating costs and operating profit margins
• Key jargon (EBITDA, ROCE)
• Getting to the bottom line
• Finance costs and interest cover red flags
• Why tax really matters

Day Two

The Importance of Cash – The Cash Cycle

• Understanding the Cash Cycle
• Working Capital Management
• Control of Cash, Receivables, Payables and Inventories

The Operating or P and L Statement

• The PandL – structure, form and content
• Accrual Accounting and Revenue Recognition
• Accounting Principles
• Understanding Depreciation
• Cash vs Profit
• EBITDA and other measures of profitability

Day Three

Business Finance

• World Stock Markets, Ownership and Share Valuation
• Financial Valuation methods
• Finding true value
• Assessing Financial Risk
• Financial Reports and Accounts
• Corporate Structures
• Corporate Governance and Business Ethics

Measuring Corporate Profitability with Ratios

• Analysing corporate performance
• The Pyramid of Ratios and the Du Pont Value chain
• Other performance measures used in financial analysis – linking book to market measures

Day Four

Capital Budgeting and Project Appraisal

• The Cost of Capital and WACC
• Risk and Return
• Investment Appraisal and Capital Budgeting techniques
• Payback, IRR and other valuation methods
• Decision-making using the NPV rule and horizon values